whatever happened that night? ➳ makoharu

22 ➳ Still Falling

**unedited**

4 YEARS LATER

Someone is screaming, and I think it's Makoto.

We're watching a horror movie, which he obviously despises, with Rin, Sousuke, Rei, and Nagisa, and he's practically latched onto me like a four-year-old seeing a monster. Rin seems to have buried himself under the seventeen layers of blankets we own for frigid Tokyo winters, while Sousuke holds him close to his body, reassuringly. Rei was on the floor, beneath my criss-crossed legs, with Nagisa on his lap.

We're all curled up on the cheap and clearly used sofa Makoto and I purchased awhile back together after buying this apartment.  Snow is falling, not a blizzard, but daintly and quietly laying flurries all over the ground outside the windowsill.  Rin had insisted that we light candles to mark the occasion, so I did, but now I'm regretting it, as the horror movie is evoking an ominous feeling throughout the living room.

"Can't we watch a romance movie?"  Nagisa pries, tilting his head up towards me.

"Y-yeah!"  Makoto chimes in.  I playfully push him to the side, but he leans right back into me.  I know he's not a horror movie person, but he said I could pick.  "You just had to pick a movie that makes all of us uneasy.  You couldn't have picked a movie less. . . horrible?"

"Horrible?"  I ask.

"Cringey is the word," Rei corrects.  "I, myself, am not a large fanatic of the scary movie genre, but this movie's actions and plot are simply erratic." 

"I like horror movies," I argue, glancing over at Rin, who had previously claimed to be a massive fan of them.  But he's deep beneath those blankets and I release an exasperated sigh.  Reaching for the remote I say, "Okay. . . well maybe we can change it but-"

All of a sudden, a demon pops up on the TV and I chuck the remote across the room, while Makoto is just barely crying.  "Haru-chan!"  Nagisa cries.  "Change it!  Change it!  Change it!  Change i-"

"Alright, alright!"  I exclaim, hopping up to grab the remote which has landed where the carpet meets the linoleum floor of our kitchenette.  The filthy pots and pans have piled up from earlier today when I was trying to teach Makoto how to make a simple bowl of soup, but everytime he went to go light up the stove, he would sprint out of the kitchen, horrified of the fire.  I pick up the remote and head back to the rest of them, a Japanese cherry blossom scent drenching the air from the candles.

"What other options do we have?"  Rei asks, scrolling through his phone, his crimson glasses perched on the bridge of his nose.  The candles have illuminated everyone's faces equally, and I'm surprised our apartment isn't on fire.  "I suggest a documentary on winter storms, since this snow seems to be accumulating into one."  Sousuke bolts up off of the couch, alarmed.

"Seriously?  Rin and I have a flight back to Australia tomorrow morning."  He rubs his palm down his face, frustrated, but Rin is strangely relaxed.

"Chill Sousuke," he says, nonchalantly.  "We'll just get another one."  Sousuke raises an eyebrow, annoyed, but agrees.  He surely knows that Rin is incredibly tenacious, and won't change his mind once he declares his decision.

"It's already three AM," I say, my phone flashing.  It's a text from Alyssa, and she's babbling about her trip to Europe with Sam, her husband.  "So I'm not even sure if you would've made it."